On Saturday, the New York Knicks fell short of getting a revenge win over Draymond Green and the Golden State Warriors, losing to them in a dogfight 97-94. New York now drops to 42-24 on the season while Golden State continues its winning ways and is 39-28.
The Knicks shooting struggles cost them a chance at a win
New York did their job defensively, holding the Warriors to under 100 points for the first time since Jan. 20 (h/t New York Daily News’ Kristian Winfield) and held them to under 40% shooting from the field. However, the Knicks were still unable to come away with the win thanks to another poor shooting night.
New York shot just 9-for-24 from three, while the Warriors made 13 threes on 41 attempts. Both rates are not exceptionally high, but Golden State knocked down the timely shots from Stephen Curry (28 points) and Moses Moody (18 points).
The Knicks got very little from the bench unit, as they mustered just four points altogether and were 0-for-5 from three. Additionally, Josh Hart had his worst offensive game of the season, going scoreless in 39 minutes of action on 0-for-7 shooting from the floor.
Their 94 points are tied for the fewest in a game this season, and this was also the second time during the five-game road trip that they scored under 100 points. The Knicks are still trying to navigate life without Jalen Brunson, and while the defense has vastly improved, the offense has taken a step back.
Karl-Anthony Towns was brilliant against the Warriors
The big storyline leading up to the game was how would Karl-Anthony Towns perform against Green and the Warriors. Green made controversial comments about Towns’ absence in their previous matchup without acknowledging that the real reason was to attend a funeral.
Towns delivered a monster performance and tried everything he could to secure a win for New York. He scored 29 points on 12-for-21 shooting from the field and 3-for-5 from three and grabbed 12 rebounds in 30 minutes of action.
Towns got it going early and late. He scored 11 points in both the first quarter and fourth quarter and was the main reason why the Knicks stayed in the game salute trailing for most of the second half. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get enough from the other guys to put pressure on Golden State and therefore fell short of getting a huge win on the road.
Overview
The Knicks finish the road trip going 2-3, with most of that being played without Brunson. Their schedule gets lighter to close out the month, and they will now head back home for their next game against the Miami Heat on Monday.